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Superhero magic

Movie Title: Captain America: The Winter Soldier [HD]
Grade: A-
In a Nutshell:
A great marvel! This mile-a-minute action flick is the second installment in the Captain America franchise and a terrific stand-alone story that is compelling and complex. Sequels are notorious for not being as good, but this gritty one is winning high praises from Marvel fans and newbies alike. It’s a smart political thriller that makes you feel like you just saw a real movie. It’s brave enough to tackle serious issues such as national security, government surveillance and the price of freedom.
Marvel is really doing it right, pumping out one fun flick after another. The Amazing Spider-Man , X-Men: Days of Future Past , and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1: Cosmic Avengers hit the big screen in just weeks! It’s a little bit helpful to have seen the first Captain America film, but if not, don’t worry…you’ll catch on quickly.
Uplifting theme: Wouldn’t it be great if American patriotism were cool again?
Things I liked:
The Winter Soldier is an interesting villain.
Three Days of the Condor [HD] star Robert Redford reminds us how cool those 1970s espionage movies were.
I love clever banter between fun characters. Scarlett Johansson plays Natasha Romanoff who steals scenes with Rogers (Captain America), played by the impressively buff Chris Evans. You’ll most likely see a trailer before this movie that features Scarlett Johansson in the upcoming film that looks like it has some good potential: Lucy
I love Sam Wilson’s evolution into a superhero with the aid of his uber-awesome jet-powered wings.
The opening scene with Chris Evans in an Under Armour shirt…wow. My kids gross out whenever I talk about male actors like that, but hey, I’m not dead.
Scenes where everyone points a gun at everyone else in a stand-off always crack me up.
I’m glad we get to see the man behind the mask. The Winter Soldier’s mask gets knocked off fairly early in the film and we learn more about him as the film develops.
The CGI was great and believable.
I thought the slow-motion scene toward the end was great.
I thought the list of things Captain America made of things he needed to catch up on was pretty cute. It included Tai food, Disco, Moon landing, and Marvin Gaye.
I LOVED the finale of How I Met Your Mother: The Complete Series , so I enjoyed seeing Cobie Smulders again.
I love it when Stan Lee makes his cameo performance. His big line in this installment of his Marvel character movies is “Oh man! I am so fired.” Ha ha
I loved watching a middle-aged woman in a dress suit kick bad-guy butt.
Things I didn’t like:
It didn’t have as much humor as The Avengers or Iron Man movies.
Some people may criticize the movie for being unrealistic. Well, duh…it’s a superhero movie.
(PHOTO ON LEFT: One of our pastry students at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School, where I teach, designed a special sugar structure to celebrate Captain America! Everything in her design is edible!)
Funny lines:
Nick Fury says “We’re gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen.” Captain America replies “I thought the punishment came after the crime.”
Natasha asks “Hey fellas, either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I’m here to pick up a fossil.” Captain America says “That’s hilarious” as he gets in her car.
Falcon yells “How do we know the good guys from the bad guys?” Captain America yells back as they run towards danger “If they’re shooting at you, they’re bad!”
Natasha asks “You doing anything fun Saturday night?” Captain America answers “Well, all the guys in my barbershop quartet are dead…so, no, not really.”
Captain America says “You don’t have to come with me.” Falcon replies “I know. When do we start?”
Falcon says to the Cap “You know you’re a lot heavier than you look.” Captain America chirps back “I had a big breakfast.”
A soldier on a plane that Captain America jumps out of says to another soldier “Was he wearing a parachute?” “No, no he wasn’t.”
“Secure the engine room. Then find me a date.” - Captain America
“You’re wrong about me. I do share. I’m nice like that.” – Agent Nick Fury
“I do what he does, just slower.” - Falcon, referring to Captain America.
Did you know?
The Avengers was almost a rated R movie. Some of the violence was a bit too much, so the directors had to tone it down and resubmit it. There is LOT of violence in Captain America: The Winter Soldier [HD] , but they tried hard to not get an R rating so that kids could watch it. Parents, be prepared for lots of shooting, explosions, and collateral damage.
Robert Downey Jr. has already convinced us how cool he is, but he took it up another notch when he invited 20 kids to join him at his house to watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier [HD] . He posted this note on his Facebook page “What better way to spend my birthday than recognizing the cosmic miracle of Captain America 2 opening the same day.” Nice.
Agent Nick Fury trades in his eye patch for a set of cool shades. You even get to see what’s underneath his patch.
If you’re currently watching the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, see this movie first, and then continue watching the TV series.
Keep watching after the credits roll for a teaser.

13 and up.

based on the first film captain america the winter soldier is a awesome action/adventure movie and worth your money to spend on stars with three actors Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson the movie is fine for your teens to see and parents you need to know that captain america the winter soldier has some intense violence and some mild language used the positive message is about the value of honest and the role model is that captain america is out of place and doesn't quite fit in, but the ideals he believes in and fights for are simple and pure. He believes that freedom is better than fear, and that knowledge and trust is better than the false illusion of safety. He sticks by his friends, no matter what, and he tells the truth. He does hurt people during fights, however.

Too Many Curse Words

Great action. Plot was wonderful, but I just couldn't get pass the curse words in the movie. It was more disappointing to see all the good guys saying the curse words. The bad guys didn't say any. So what are we teaching are children, if you want to be a good guy "curse". The movie would have been an incredible feature if they had just been like George Washington and said "“The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it”. That
is what Captain America should be saying if he truly represented the U.S.

Great characters &amp; messages, but intense violence undercuts its morality

Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America) is the ultimate pure-hearted hero. His superpowers (the result of a military experiment in WWII) make him the perfect warrior, but he doesn't believe in using violence except as a last resort. He's intelligent enough to question whether his orders make sense and whether S.H.I.E.L.D. is really acting in the best interests of the American people, and public-spirited enough to throw himself on a grenade (literally in his first movie, and figuratively many times after that) to save others' lives. All these qualities make him the perfect hero to respond to the threat of treachery within S.H.I.E.L.D. Warned to trust no one, he instead uses his judgement to find allies worthy of trust: Black Widow (whose world-weary, I've-seen-everything attitude serves as a foil to Captain America's innocence), and Sam, a compassionate Iraq War vet who runs support groups for his fellow veterans and agrees to take in the two superheroes when they're fugitives from S.H.I.E.L.D. This turns out to be a great choice, because Sam is actually a superhero in his own right: the Falcon, a lesser-known comic book hero created as a pioneering African-American superhero. Both Capt. America and the Falcon are terrific role models who balance strength and courage with compassion and a deep consciousness of the consequences of their actions. Even bad-girl Black Widow acts as a good role model in her own way, sticking her neck out to protect Steve, and daring to do the right thing even when the villain threatens to make all her most scandalous secrets public. Ultimately, it's not so much Captain America's strength as his capacity to care for others--even for his adversary, the Winter Soldier--that changes the world. He resists the demand that he simply kill the Winter Soldier, and keeps trying to reach him as a human being.
However, this moral underpinning of the movie is often undermined by its flashy scenes of all-too-lifelike violence. By lifelike I mean that the weapons are guns, not goofy special effects weapons like the magic spear in Avengers. All the shooting can undermine the antiviolent message of the dialog &amp; plot, leaving kids with the impression that guns are a solution to your problems. I think parents can counteract this, however, by talking about the importance of Captain America's reluctance to use violence and making sure that's the message kids hear when they see this movie.
My husband, a history teacher, would want me to point out that the movie misuses the phrase "Winter Soldier," a quote from Thomas Paine which was actually a positive reference to patriots who didn't desert the cause when the going got tough. Really, he says, Captain America is the "winter soldier" who never gives up standing up for what's right, regardless of what it costs him.

Good action, but VERY iffy for pre-teens

I've found this site to be extremely helpful with vetting movies, but the Winter Soldier is what prompted me to sign up and write a quick review. The first Captain America was OK for a mature 11 or 12 year old (in my humble opinion), as was the Avengers. So before I saw this movie I was struggling with why this site had rated Winter Soldier for older kids, and now that I've seen it I tend to agree: On the plus side the violence lacks gore and torture, but unlike the Avengers it's people (not monster-aliens) getting shot - very often and often at close range. Think about that scene in "Catching Fire" where Katniss kind of sees the man getting shot in the head when the door closes? If that happened 3, 4 or 10 more times in the movie I'd say it clearly becomes inappropriate for pre-teens. Winter Soldier has great action for teens and adults but it's a case study on why gore/torture isn't the only red flag for violence with pre-teens.

A massive improvement on the last Avengers movie

"Thor: The Dark World" left me with a sour taste: too confusing plot, a lackluster villain and KAT DENNINGS. Ugh. The Russo brothers, whose work I've admired since getting into "Community" lately, do an excellent job of elevating the boy scout that Cap could have become here; making him a little weary of modern day life, giving him a love interest with Black Widow that feels real and not forced like Jane and Thor, and a few villains that you actually really dislike/are interested and aren't carbon copies of bad guys. Along with great visual effects, a complex story that never gets too overbearing, and some actually great humor both "Thor 2" and "Iron Man 3" were sorely lacking, "Winter Soldier" is a total success and leaves me craving "Age of Ultron" even more!

Fine and fun

A fun movie extending super hero trope. When I was 6 it was Batman, Superman and the Lone Ranger - and we read all the comics. I think parents who hold their (esp boys) back from seeing movies such as this are being over protective and paranoid (and there is no evidence to back up that stance).
Research does show that talking to kids about good and evil, about moral dilemmas, about whether fight was justifies completely mitigates harmful effects.
My 9 year old has been watching sci-fi and super hero movies since 3. In contrary to what the worry warts would believe he is committedly anti-gun, anti-violence, anti-war (as am I). We are both pacifists but enjoy fiction - and this is just that a fun story for kids...

Cap's back and better than ever!

I been looking forward to this movie ever since it was announced. I am glad to say that the movie does not disappoint. Even though I think the Avengers was a better movie, I fell that the Winter Soldier had a better storyline. This movie has great messages about standing up for what is right no matter the circumstances. There are several role models in this movie including Captain America and even Black Widow. Even though this movie is fantastic, I fell that some of the violence was more intense than the Avengers. This movie has more hand to hand combat than the Avengers has. I felt that the violence in this movie definitely earned its PG-13 rating. There is some mild profanity use in this movie such as d---- and h---. There is relatively no sexual content in this movie. The only sexual content is that Black Widow and Captain America kiss so as not to be spotted. Also, Black Widow shows Steve a gunshot wound on her stomach where she says "no more bikinis" and he replies " yeah, I bet you look terribly in them." A politician also talks about how a relationship with a aspiring reporter is hurting his back. All in all, I fell that this movie is a must see for any Marvel fan. I would still recommend this movie to anyone who likes action movies. In my opinion, this is the best Marvel Cinematic Universe movie besides the Avengers. I saw little kids going to see this movie and fell that you should know if your kids can handle some of this violence because it is quite intense. You might want to screen this movie first parents before you let your younger ones see it because of the violence. I recommend this movie for kids ages 13 and up.

Captain, at his best!!

This is, in my opinion, an improvement of the first movie (not that there was anything wrong with the first one)! It's actually more of a spy thriller than a superhero movie, and boy is it thrilling indeed! Marvel fans, get ready for a delightful treat! It's going to help lead up to the next Avengers movie!

More violent, but much more exciting!

Captain America: The Winter Soilder is like seeing a Summer movie, but in the Spring. It's got loads of exciting and tense action scenes, witty and clever writing, and is a blast in the movie theaters. The plot was a little hard to follow, as it is a bit different from the regular Marvel movies. It's about who to trust or how life can be a struggle for some people and the winter solider himself isn't really the main villian. It's this organization called HYDRA who secretly works inside SHIELD so they can sacrafice freedom for safety, which isn't in the real plans for HYDRA.The only thing objectionable with this movie is the violence as every hit that someone takes from the quick hand-to-hand combat feels so powerfully painful it's almost cringeworthy. It can be hard to watch, but this movie is still highly enjoyable and full of great action sequences despite the shakey cam. Overall, this movie is more exciting than the original, but the heavy violence should keep the tweens away.

Gratuitous violence

I really enjoyed the first Captain America film and was looking forward to this one. I was quite surprised at the amount of completely unnecessary violence in this film. The plot was good and there were several interesting messages (the NSA security state angle is especially timely), but the gratuitous violence really marred this film. It seemed like at least 500 people were shot in this film. Totally unnecessary, and really, this violence detracted from the bigger messages in the film. It's one thing to see people get beat up, to see military vehicles/carriers destroyed, but the visceral and in-your-face violence was not needed and distracted from the film.

Cap Strikes Again!

Captain America:Winter Solider is an action packed movie. It has lots of fighting scenes including lots of shooting, stabbing, fist fights, and choking. There isn't a lot of blood only some. It is funny with some one liners, but is some swearing. The movie showed great role models of being strong and put themselves out there. There is one punching scene at the end of the movie that is pretty brutal. They show Black Widow being a very strong woman in all the scenes she is in. They really explain how the first movie relates. For kids 9 or younger would likely get scared or cry during some of the fighting and sad scenes. There are lots of parts that you don't expect, some you just jump to! Captain America gives a good message that you have to be STRONG! Captain America:Winter Soldier is an AWESOME movie and I highly recommend it!

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